Paleo Chicken and Butternut Squash Chili Verde with Fresh Tomatillos

Close up of the finished product…My Paleo Chicken and Butternut Squash Chili Verde with Fresh Tomatillos topped with fresh avocado and cilantro

So I think it is Un-Godly and your blog will be cursed if you do not publish some type of green colored recipe in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. I am away from my family on a business trip this week and I am travelling to…drum roll please…..Oahu, Hawaii. I know, I know, there are a lot of worse places to be and I should NOT complain BUT come on you know I still will; I will miss those crazy boys of mine and the havoc they cause to my house daily. Anyway, besides blogging and working beach side (a girl can dream right), another perk to visiting Hawaii is it is on “island time” or Hawaii Standard Time (HST), which gives me a few extra hours to post my green recipe just in the nick of time.

What is it with St. Patrick’s Day anyway that makes everyone pretend they are Irish, drink green beer, green food, and corned beef and cabbage? Growing up in Jersey, I know all you Paleo activists will roll in your grave when you hear this, but as a kid I have fond memories of eating dyed green bagels on St. Patrick’s Day mornings. Anything that is green and is not a vegetable when you are a kid HAS to be awesome. Besides eating green bagels and once you are “of age”, you MUST also drink heavily on St. Patrick’s Day. It is cardinal rule. I was talking to my husband the other day and reminiscing of the good ol’ days and yes, we too, were those people who wore green and took advantage of an excuse to drink all day long. Again, is it a surprise that I was 20+ lbs heavier in college?!?! Bagels and beer can do it to you, that is for sure! But now as parents, things have changed. Instead, for the first time in my life I did not want to get wasted. I wanted to know who St. Patrick was and know what he did that made him so important to get a holiday named after him. The Urban legend is he chased the snakes away from Ireland. That sounds believable, right? Not! After more research on Wikipedia (come on people you are not reading my blog for the profound research I do) but in a nut shell I finally found out St. Patrick was NOT Irish, yet an Englishman who was recognized for spreading Catholicism in Ireland. There is your history lesson and now on to your cooking lesson.

You can thank my bestie, Lisa, for introducing me to yet another tomatillo recipe. Do you remember the first? If not check it out for yourself. This tomatillo sauce is LIQUID GOLD and good on everything! Heck you can eat it alone by the spoonful too! I am not sure if tomatillos are just popular and common in Texas, but I never cooked with them until Lisa taught me A) what they are and what they look like and B) how easy and yummy they are to use in your cooking. I bet your grocery store carries them so check it out. They are packed with flavor and super good for you. Anyway, Lisa made a three bean verde chili that was deliciously awesome. It got me thinking that I would love to make a Paleo white chili version and viola you have my Paleo Chicken and Butternut Squash Chili Verde with fresh tomatillos. Actually it is more of a stew than chili, but let’s go with chili since everyone loves chili. I hope you like it and eat it whenever you want, not just on St. Patrick’s Day.

Check back tomorrow for another blog post to see what has been going on in my life and why I have been slacking on my blogging. Such suspense, I know. I need to give you an excuse to make you all come back!

This Paleo chili verde is to die for, no joke. You will be green with envy; try it and you will see for yourself.

Author: Our Full Plate

Recipe type: Dinner, Stew, Chili

Cuisine: Paleo, Mexican

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

17 fresh tomatillos (about 3 lbs), husks removed

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 and ½ teaspoons of chicken bouillon powder or 1 cube

2 lbs of butternut squash; peeled, deseeded, and cubed

1 large onion, chopped

3 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped

5 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of chili powder

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

3 cups of chopped or shredded cooked chicken

½ cup of fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

3 tablespoons of fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons of salt

½ teaspoon of pepper

Toppings: avocado slice and fresh cilantro sprigs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line aluminium or parchment paper on a cookie sheet and add your cubed butternut squash. Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and blend well. Place in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes.

While your butternut squash is roasting, take your cooked chicken and chop or shred it. I took the easy way out and bought a rotissere chicken at my local grocery store. If you don't like rotissere chicken you can bake chicken breasts in the oven for 30 minutes and then shred or cube it. You can also throw your chicken breasts in the crock pot that morning with a little broth and when you get home you will have cooked chicken.

At this point the butternut squash should almost be done roasting. It is now time to prepare your tomatillos by dehusking them and washing them. Once complete, add your tomatillos, garlic, 1 and ½ teaspoons of your chicken bouillon powder, 3 cups of water and boil for 10 minutes in a medium sized saucepan.

Meanwhile, sauté onion and peppers in hot oil in a large Dutch oven/ sauce pan over medium-high heat for 4 minutes or until tender.

Add chili powder and cumin to the sautéed onions and peppers; sauté for an additional 4 minutes.

Remove tomatillo mixture from heat and let it cool for 5 minutes. Process mixture in a blender until smooth. For this step, I used my immersion blender. I LOVE my immersion blender for cases like these where I did not need to dirty another kitchen appliance to blend something. Do not strain. Keep all of this amazing blended tomatillo sauce because it will be the base of your yummy chili.